Friday, June 6, 2014

Jerome, Arizona

It was another hot day around here, but we decided to get out of the motor home and go sightseeing. We've been to Jerome a number of times in the past and have always enjoyed visiting the area.

There have been many blogs and articles written about Jerome and rather than add to this list, I am attaching a clicky to one of the better websites touting Jerome. Click here ====> Jerome Article

We made the Jerome State Park our first stop to get a nice view of the valley looking back toward Clarkdale and Cottonwood. It also provided us with a view up the mountain toward Jerome and all the houses built on the hillsides. The large building at the top center of the photo below is the Jerome Grand Hotel which is still in operation.

This Spanish Mission style building, constructed in 1926, started out
as the United Verde Hospital, opening January, 1927. In 1930, it was
written up as the most modern and well equipped hospital in Arizona and
possible the Western States. The Hospital was closed in 1950
as the mine operation was being phased out. The building stood unused
for the next 44 years until the rehabilitation plans started in 1994.

The building is one of the highest public structures in the Verde
Valley, (5240 Ft.). As the last major building constructed in Jerome,
the building was not only to boost the pride of the town in its classic
design, but was built fire proof and able to withstand the blasts of up
to 260,000 pounds of dynamite set off by the mine and sometimes felt as
far away as
Camp Verde, a distance of 20 miles. How this 30,000 sq. ft., five level
building of poured in place, reinforced concrete, was constructed on a
50 degree slope is an engineering marvel even by today's standards! *** Copied from the Jerome Grand Hotel website.

We noticed the house below and took a closeup of it since it looked like it would not be out of place in the Swiss Alps. It is also shown in the photo above at the bottom center.

The Little Daisy Mine is just outside of the State Park and is in remarkable shape for being almost 100 years old. The cage that I am in descended 1900 ft down to the mine and was used to bring workers down and ore back up. There is noway that I would ride this cage to the bottom and then work there. Just not my bag!

They had their own generator station built next to the mine shaft. At first they depended on Childs generating station to supply power, but they soon exceeded the power of the station. They then built their own electric power station and the details are shown below. All I can say is they built things to last in those days, unlike the cheap junk we import now.

The next three photos give you an idea how large the power generating equipment was. Keep in mind they had to haul these large pieces of equipment miles up the side of the mountain and install it. It would be extremely difficult to do so now but I can imagine them using mules to haul it up there.

This is part of downtown Jerome and some of the 100 + years old buildings. Many are still in use but there are sections where only the walls are still standing. There are mostly bars, restaurants, art galleries and other touristy things to see and do. We did stop and buy some fudge at a shop we've been to a few times in the past. No T-shirt though.

I had downloaded some geocaches in Jerome, but parking near them was very difficult and there were many people sitting around near the caches. Maybe next time we can pick up a few of them, but not today.

We did drive around Clarkdale a little and were impressed by the town. It was very neat and orderly with a lot of old homes restored and in great shape. They have a very nice park in the center of town with a bandstand in the middle. It reminded us of how small towns used to look before the big box stores ran the shops on main street out of business.

We last blogged about Jerome in October of 2012. You can connect to the blog at this address.